Remnants
by TangoAlpha
Summary: After suddenly waking up in the middle of the night, Sai can't help but notice the house is a little different than usual, and he takes what clues are left behind to piece it all together.


Hey all! This is just a short oneshot where I try to write a fic that doesn't focus on Kakashi. I really like Sai, and I think him and Sakura are kind of cute together. It was actually pretty difficult to characterize Sai the way I wanted, but I'm still learning. So please, tell me your thoughts!

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><p>Sai let out a big yawn as he flipped on the living room lights and sleepily toddled his way on through to the kitchen. He turned on another set of lights and began fumbling around looking for a clean cup. The kitchen was in disarray with dirty dishes piled up, and Sai felt an unpleasant feeling in his stomach. He paused a moment to process the feeling and thought back to one of the books he had just read; he knew this feeling had a name. Was it anger? No, that feeling was too intense and was usually caused by feeling wronged. Annoyance? That was closer, but it still was not right.<p>

It suddenly hit him. "Disgust: to cause loathing or nausea in,"1 he recited aloud. Yes, that was it.

The kitchen had never been that dirty before. He was usually good about doing the dishes when it was his turn, but this time it was not his responsibility. Sai figured they would get done because his roommate was usually quite good at following the rules, and in the beginning, they had established certain rules about dividing chores. Then again, Sai had also observed his roommate to put housework last when she was throwing herself into whatever her main goal was at the time. Usually it was work that held her intense focus, but lately it had been something, or rather someone, else.

Not seeing a clean glass, Sai switched on the faucet and leaned down to drink from the cool stream of water. He wiped his damp mouth with his sleeve and was fairly nonplussed about not having any glassware to use. Sai simply decided the best decision would be to deal with the dishes in the morning. He switched off the kitchen lights and sleepily made his way to his room through the living room. He was about to switch off the living room lights when he suddenly had the unshakeable feeling the living room was not as it normally was.

Sai quickly glanced around the room taking in all the minute differences. Pillows that normally rested cozily next to the armrests of the couch were carelessly lying nearby on the floor. The cushions were askew and un-fluffed. The side table was not parallel to the couch anymore, and the lamp on top of it was perched dangerously close to the edge. Also on top of the side table were the remnants of a metallic, foil-like wrapper.

Sai deduced a pair of objects with a fairly high momentum and sporadic direction came through the door and knocked into the side table. This collision thus shifted the table from its proper place parallel to the couch and also caused the lamp to move from its original position. The objects must have continued with reckless momentum until hitting the couch and collapsing on top of it. Moving at such velocity, the objects must have been unable to stop and continued their wild movements until knocking off the couch pillows and skewing the cushions. From the remnants of the wrapper, Sai could discern that one object was able to slow momentum enough to utilize protection from any future damage before increasing its velocity to crash back into its partner.

Sai suddenly felt unable to look at the scene any longer, and there was a sinking feeling in his chest. He hurriedly turned on his heel and was about to turn off the light except he almost collided into a petite, warm body.

"Sakura," Sai stated flatly regardless of his surprise that she had been behind him. "What are you doing awake?"

Sakura shrugged. "I was really thirsty, so I was heading to the kitchen for a glass of water. When I came out, I found you standing here spacing out before you almost ran into me."

"Ah, I see." Sai could not get himself to look at Sakura properly, and he was unable to classify what emotion this was. "Well, there aren't any clean glasses currently. I was just in the kitchen myself for the same reason."

Sakura looked down embarrassedly at the mention of the state of the kitchen. "I apologize. That's my fault. I'll clean that right now."

Sai pondered this a moment. "Isn't it strange to start cleaning at this hour? You seem unable to stand still. Your body is also diverted away from me, and you can't seem to maintain steady eye contact . . . What do they call this again?"

Sakura let out a long, exasperated sigh and hit her forehead with her palm. "It's being fucking embarrassed, Sai. Jesus, do you really have to bring up every emotion you observe during a conversation?"

Unlike most people, Sai was never offended by comments like these. He simply found them to reveal more about social interaction and helped him judge how is actions affected others. He was also used to more aggressive comments about his social skills from those he interacted with regularly, but Sakura was not usually this harsh unless something else was bothering her.

"Projecting negative feelings towards another without just cause . . . hmm, I would say still embarrassed," Sai deduced quietly aloud to himself.

Sakura threw her hands up in there air and stomped past Sai to head towards the kitchen. Instead of continuing on, she paused and glanced around the living room seeming to finally noticed its disheveled state. Sai turned slightly to watch her fluff the cushions anxiously and move items back to their proper place. She paused in her hasty tiding when she got to the side table and the little bits of shiny wrapper that were left there. Sakura glanced back at Sai quickly, and their eyes barely met before Sai dropped his gaze.

Without a word, Sai turned toward his room. There was a knot in his stomach, and he realized his teeth were clenched. His body was making involuntary responses, and he hoped he had a book about this lying around.

1 .com/browse/disgust


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